A customised web-based solution

A customised web-based solution to streamline ordering, fulfilment and records management for around 10,000 transactions each year. Turnkey client solutions, productive management tools and a whole new level of ownership.

The client:

Apparel Design is a substantial clothing merchandiser operating in Australia’s lucrative motorsport industry, trading on behalf of high-profile clients such as Ford Performance Racing, Perkins Motorsport, Castrol Racing, V8 Supercars and Ford Performance Vehicles.

The idea:

Apparel Design imagined a management system they could own, control and develop to suit their needs.

The trigger:

This company had matured, outgrowing their current system and was seeking a new level of independence.

Apparel Design recognised they were dependent on their existing management system’s third party developer/vendor. The burden of being locked into an expensive monthly rental plan limited their ability to improve efficiency, expand operations or control their own future.  

The journey:

Following preliminary discussions, DDG partnered Apparel Design in pursuing an ownable, functional system.

Initial effort went into listening, talking and asking lots of questions to learn all we could about Apparel Design and their operations – understanding the strengths and shortcomings of the existing management system and identifying a wish list of capabilities for the new system.  

Together we fleshed out the business, technical and communications requirements. Along the way we pinpointed some potential functionality that would never have been imagined without DDG’s technical specialists getting inside the heads of Apparel Design’s business brains.

The company’s business processes were key to framing a best-fit solution. The focus was squarely on designing a solution that fitted their protocols, business model and processes, rather than reverse engineering their activities to fit a standard technical model. Genuine ownership of the solution meant much more than physical possession of it.

A clear model was defined, refined and enhanced to match the technical and budget constraints. As focus changed to the technical implementation, a software architecture was designed to maximise the flexibility of the final solution. A truly successful project would not just be about achieving the immediate business requirements, but ensuring a flexible and robust technical platform into the future that could be shaped and adapted as new requirements evolved.

Although Microsoft .Net framework was used as the underlying platform for the solution, the project’s technical success was delivered on the back of DDG’s own software framework, which is the result of many years of R&D. The methodology provides the process of mapping business models into software models that provide:

• business requirements that are traceable through every level of the software implementation thus ensuring a higher quality solution; and
• component-based and loosely-coupled architecture for easier future re-engineering and plugging in of new functionality.

The solution:

ADSTAR is the web-based solution created by DDG to integrate Apparel Design’s entire transaction and record management needs.  

It features:

• An order management backend to track and administrate public and dealer group orders through the warehouse, dispatch and invoicing stages
• Tools for email-based marketing and communication across the dealer base
• Management reporting tools to monitor stock levels and financials
• Single installation architecture that can run any number of high-traffic volume stores under completely different brands and product ranges.

The benefits – for Apparel Design:

• Ownership – Apparel Design owns ADSTAR outright, so have no reliance on a third party vendor
• Independence – convenient internal management of system to save money, time and fuss
• Productised dealer offer – now able to offer dealers/clients a complete, turnkey business-to-business solution for ordering, distribution, fulfilment and reporting of their merchandise, with significantly reduced set-up times for new clients
• No significant increase in overheads – low-cost, email-based applications
• Efficiency – system automatically generates order notifications direct to warehouse for shipping, and generates invoices, reducing manual keying, double handling and paper-based transactions
• Adaptable – easy set-up and installation
• Savvy information management – centralised knowledge base with easy access to current, standardised information across the system

The benefits – for clients and wholesalers:

• Fast turnaround on transactions
• Efficiency and accuracy - retail orders can be placed through online shopping cart integrated to race team websites
• Wholesalers have access to “dealer only” section for product information, order placement and tracking
• Easily navigable – well-designed pages and on-line fields for easy browsing and buying
• Shopping in style – vibrant, easy-on the eye pages professionally designed using dealer brand elements to ensure the shopping experience is enjoyable and leverages from the existing brand power 
• Improved client engagement via ready communication of news, information and promotions

The results so far:

ADSTAR has become a critical and integral part of Apparel Design’s business operations.

Apparel Design has successfully deployed the ADSTAR solution to manage the merchandise sales of several high-profile, branded motorsport clients. They have been able to offer clients a total supply solution from product conception, delivery and sale. 

The ADSTAR version developed for Ford Performance Racing supports a range of approximately 100 products and 5-6000 orders per year which equates to several million dollars in revenue. ADSTAR automatically uploads generated invoices directly into the FPR accounting system for fast, accurate and seamless billing of these transactions.